Dual Reg : Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:33 am  

Just seen that Ade Gardner has joined Whitehaven on a dual registration and is in their squad to play against Keighley this weekend.

Is it just me or do deals like this (and Paul Wood playing for Swinton, Richard Moore at Hunslet etc.) make a mockery of the system? I thought the purpose of dual registrations was for younger players to gain first team experience whilst aiming to break into the first team for their clubs. No disrespect but what is a player like Gardner, who has won every honour in the game and played internationally, going to benefit from playing from Whitehaven apart from getting match fitness whilst keeping a Whitehaven player out of their team?

The RFL have caused situations like this by getting rid of the U23's competition as now players returning from injury have no way of getting match fit at their own clubs and will now have to be loaned out on deals like this in order to do it which is a joke.

What will be next? Saints have a free week and Rochdale have a big game so Roby, Wellens, Wilkin, LMS and Turner all go on dual reg to play for them that week? Once again shows the incompetence of the RFL taking actions without considering the wider consequences of getting rid of the 'A' team/U23's.

Dont blame the clubs or players for taking advantage of this, just seems like a strange move by the RFL and this will be a consequence of it.

Re: Dual Reg : Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:33 pm  

wakey_saint wrote:

Just seen that Ade Gardner has joined Whitehaven on a dual registration and is in their squad to play against Keighley this weekend.

Is it just me or do deals like this (and Paul Wood playing for Swinton, Richard Moore at Hunslet etc.) make a mockery of the system? I thought the purpose of dual registrations was for younger players to gain first team experience whilst aiming to break into the first team for their clubs. No disrespect but what is a player like Gardner, who has won every honour in the game and played internationally, going to benefit from playing from Whitehaven apart from getting match fitness whilst keeping a Whitehaven player out of their team?

The RFL have caused situations like this by getting rid of the U23's competition as now players returning from injury have no way of getting match fit at their own clubs and will now have to be loaned out on deals like this in order to do it which is a joke.

What will be next? Saints have a free week and Rochdale have a big game so Roby, Wellens, Wilkin, LMS and Turner all go on dual reg to play for them that week? Once again shows the incompetence of the RFL taking actions without considering the wider consequences of getting rid of the 'A' team/U23's.

Dont blame the clubs or players for taking advantage of this, just seems like a strange move by the RFL and this will be a consequence of it.

Rochdale would probably send Wellens and Turner straight back as they are useless.

It makes a mockery of Ade Gardner still having a contract with Saints, but I don't see why it's an issue if players who aren't of any use to the Super League club play for the Championship feeder side. The Championship will no doubt improve vastly in standards as players filter down to get experience/gametime. It's a win/win situation. The younger players get to play in a more competitive league than the A team which was never taken seriously, which will aid their development. The Championship teams get access to better players, both young players and senior players looking for gametime and cheaply too. It will be a boon for some Championship sides. Their professional approach should help to raise standards. It will also make the Championship players better, playing in tougher matches against better opposition every week. It will no doubt cause them to have to raise their standards just to stay at their club and if they fail, they will then filter down to the next tier.

I really don't see why there is such opposition to this.

Re: Dual Reg : Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:35 pm  

You are correct,once they removed the age restriction for dual reg players and changed it from only being able to register4 players to being able to register full squads but only play 5 players.Well the writting was on the wall then and it was clear what would happen,and the RFL are suprised this is happening!!!!!.DR as it was worked well it developed younger SL players at a higher level.

Re: Dual Reg : Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:36 pm  

I reckon that the Whitehaven players will benefit from having a seasoned pro like Gardner or Wood around.
It may give their fans another "star" to watch and help their team to victory.

If championship side start stacking their ranks with 10 players from a superleague club, then I can see a problem, but one or two per club? Nah, i don't see it doing any harm.

Re: Dual Reg : Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:47 pm  

Will they benefit from having a seasoned pro around? Lets face it they are going there to get some game time.

Are they training with them? Are they going to team meeting each week?

Sounds a bit more mercenary than sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience.

Re: Dual Reg : Fri Feb 08, 2013 2:18 pm  

Not sure how Saints work it, but know Hull players on dual reg only train once a week at York and rest of time is spent with the Hull team which cant be good perperation for games.

Whilst I agree it may benefit the lower clubs to have more experienced players in the team, I dont think its fair on the players contracted to the club who will miss out because of it.

I know I would be pretty pee'd off if I was a Whitehaven player dropped this week for Gardner, who could then be recalled to the Saints team for a couple of weeks and come back after that and take my place again. Plus, other than match fitness (which players used to be able to get in the A team if not selected for first team), Gardner will get no personal benefits from playing for Whitehaven. I just find it a bit strange that the RFL saw this as the best action moving forward and to drop the U23's comp completely.

Re: Dual Reg : Fri Feb 08, 2013 6:12 pm  

I don't agree with all this dual reg malarky. I'd like to see a rule brought in, whereby only under 21's can be dual registered and a team can only have 5 dual reg players from Super League clubs. This way, young players and lower league clubs still benefit. Players like Wood, Moore and Gardner shouldn't be able to use dual reg as a way of playing because they're not getting picked for their Super League clubs, in that case, if they want to play and aren't getting picked, they should move clubs, rather than being guaranteed a game for one or the other. And like wakey_saint said, it's not fair dropping someone to bring in a Super League bit-part player, who's had their chance.

Re: Dual Reg : Sat Feb 09, 2013 6:13 pm  

Having a reserves team would fix the problem with first team players needing game time and I agree dual reg should be for u21's to get more 1st team gametime.

Based on the Hudds performance Rochdale would probably send all 17 of them back never mind just Wello and Turner!

Re: Dual Reg : Sun Feb 10, 2013 1:09 pm  

I understand the reasons for it, as it was a cost cutting exersize and it may actually benefit the lower league as there will be more fulltime pros playing in that league which should bring up the standards overall.

But whether it improves training methods and benefits individual players is another matter.

Re: Dual Reg : Fri Feb 15, 2013 4:46 pm  

Supposedly, Gardner's playing for Rochdale this weekend. Can he do that, considering he'd already played for Whitehaven?